tweak level design to either redirect players towards specific areas or move important elements from widely ignored areas to more heavily trafficked ones. Instead of texture mapping, vertex lighting was used to give color and definition to the floors. Because vertex lighting is a time-consuming process for artists, Sony gave the Blasto team carte blanche in taking artists from other teams to get the project completed on time. Producer and designer Jonathan Beard stated that the game's protagonist Captain Blasto was conceived as a parody of heroes such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers but with a comedic amount of overconfidence. Lead artist Ben Harrison described the character as an amalgamation of Duck Dodgers, Powdered Toast Man, and Dirty Harry. Actor and comedian Phil Hartman provided the voice for the game's eponymous hero. While developing the character, Beard claimed the team had Hartman in mind while coming up with his voice. Hartman stated he spent six hours recording all of the protagonist's possible dialogue during a single-day session. Initially announced for a late 1997 release, Blasto was later pushed back to the first quarter of 1998. Sony did not provide a specific reason for the delay. The game also had a Japanese release planned as advertised via a promo video included on Dengeki PlayStation D14 under the name , but was cancelled for unknown reasons. In the version of the title released in PAL regions, the original episode (level) 3 was removed due to space limitations, since the PAL version included a number of languages. Reception The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Next Generation said of the game, "In the end, despite all the problems, this isn't the worst game ever released for PlayStation, but it doesn't hold a candle to the best, or even the mediocre." References External links 1998 video games 3D platform games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Third-person shooters Video games developed in the United States